Western Maine Play Museum secures $50,000 grant

WILTON - The Western Maine Play Museum has announced that it has recently been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Davis Family Foundation. The grant will be used to create a new heating and cooling system in the museum building, located on Main Street in Wilton.

The Davis Family Foundation is a public charitable foundation established by Phyllis C. Davis and H. Halsey Davis of Falmouth, according to the foundation's website, to support educational, medical and cultural/arts organizations located primarily in Maine. Established following H. Halsey Davis' retirement as President and Chairman of Shaw’s Supermarkets, Inc., the foundation's goal is "to make grants where they will do the most good and where our gifts make a real difference."

The foundation has provided more than $50.5 million in grants since 1986.

Museum Board President Angela McLeod said that a detailed quote on the heating and cooling system was provided by A. Maurais & Sons, a Jay company, prior to the application to the grant.

"We have a very large and inefficient building that we're excited to bring into the 21st century," McLeod said. "Receiving this grant is a big part of a planned energy overhaul, which also includes insulating the building and replacing single pane windows. We're thankful that the Davis Family Foundation saw the merits in what we're trying to accomplish."